This is a brief chronology of the milestones of Washington history. Part 2 covers 1851 to 1900. Search the HistoryLink.org database for detailed essays on these events.
1851-1860
- Methodists establish first permanent church in Olympia in 1851.
- Oregon Territory creates Pacific County for Willapa Bay and vicinity on February 4, 1851.
- Port Townsend is settled on April 24, 1851.
- Denny party lands at Alki Point (near site of Seattle) on November 13, 1851.
- Oregon Territory creates Thurston County, covering the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound region, on January 12, 1852.
- Nicolas Delin begins operating a sawmill on Commencement Bay in 1852.
- Sayward and Thorndyke erect a sawmill on site of Port Ludlow, 1852.
- Washington’s first newspaper, the Columbian, begins publication at Olympia on September 11, 1852.
- Oregon Legislature creates King, Pierce, and Jefferson counties on December 22, 1852.
- Oregon Legislature creates Island County on January 6, 1853.
- U.S. President Millard Fillmore establishes Washington Territory on March 2, 1853.
- Hudson’s Bay Co. puts 1,300 sheep on San Juan Island in December 1853.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Whatcom County and Skamania County on March 9, 1854.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Sawamish County (becomes Mason) out of King county on March 13, 1854.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Chehalis (becomes Grays Harbor) County out of Thurston on April 14, 1854.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Cowlitz County on April 21, 1854.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Wahkiakum County (out of Cowlitz County) and Walla Walla County on April 25, 1854.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Clallam County on April 26, 1854.
- Steilacoom, Pierce County, the first territorial town, is incorporated in 1854.
- Skookum Mill established near Shelton in 1854.
- U. S. Customs Office moved from Olympia to Port Townsend in 1854.
- Medicine Creek Treaty is signed on December 26, 1854.
- Point Elliott Treaty is signed on January 22, 1855.
- Treaty of Point No Point is signed on January 26, 1855.
- Treaty of Neah Bay is signed on January 31, 1855.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Slaughter County (becomes Kitsap) out of King County on January 16, 1857.
- Vancouver (Clark County), second territorial town, is incorporated in 1857.
- Isaac Ebey is beheaded on August 11, 1857.
- U. S. Army Col. George Wright slaughters 800 Palouse horses beginning on September 8, 1858.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Spokane County on January 29, 1858.
- Olympia, the third territorial town, is incorporated in 1859.
- The State of Oregon is created on February 14, 1859.
- Lyman Cutlar shoots the boar that touches off Pig War between U.S. and Great Britain on June 15, 1859.
- Frost and Fowler establish a store at Mukilteo, first Snohomish County settlement, in 1859.
- Homesteaders arrive in Dayton (Columbia County) in 1859.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Klickitat County (out of Walla Walla County) on December 20, 1859.
- Whitman Seminary (future Whitman College) is chartered December 29, 1859.
- E. C. Ferguson, founder of Snohomish County, arrives in April 1860.
- Port Townsend (Jefferson County), fourth territorial town, incorporates in 1860.
- Mullan Road is completed from Columbia River (Walla Walla) to Missouri River in 1860.
- Population of Washington Territory is 11,594 in 1860.
1861-1870
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Snohomish County (out of Island County) on January 14, 1861.
- Territorial University (University of Washington) opens on November 4, 1861.
- Walla Walla, the fifth territorial town, incorporates in 1862.
- Severe winter of 1861/1862 devastates Eastern Washington settlers.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Stevens County on January 20, 1863.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Ferguson County (a large, short-lived county of indefinite borders) out of Walla Walla County on January 23, 1863.
- President Abraham Lincoln signs law separating new Idaho Territory from Washington on March 4, 1863.
- Capt. William Renton establishes Port Blakely Mill Co. in Blakely Harbor, Bainbridge Island, in 1863.
- Western Union transcontinental telegraph line reaches Seattle on October 25, 1864.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Yakima County (out of Ferguson) on January 21, 1865.
- U. S. Senate ratifies purchase of Alaska from Russia on April 9, 1867.
- Road is completed over Snoqualmie Pass by October 7, 1867.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Quillehute County on January 29, 1868 (reverts to Clallam and Jefferson in 1870).
- Town of Seattle is formed in 1865, but legislature voids its charter two years later.
- The City of Seattle is incorporated on December 2, 1869.
- McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary (oldest in nation) is founded in 1870.
- Jasper Gates settles Mount Vernon (in Skagit County) in 1870.
- Jewish governor of Washington Territory Edward Salomon takes office spring of 1870.
- Population of Washington Territory is 23,955 in 1870.
1871-1880
- Flour mill opens in Dayton (Columbia County) in 1871.
- John and Ellen Shoudy arrive in Ellensburg in 1871.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Whitman County (out of Stevens) on November 29, 1871.
- Earthquake stops Columbia River in 1872.
- Northern Pacific Railroad picks Tacoma for Western terminus on July 14, 1873.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates San Juan County (out of Whatcom) on October 31, 1873.
- African American George Washington founds Centralia in 1875.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Columbia County (out of Walla Walla) on November 11, 1875.
- Chief Moses war 1877-1879.
- David Batey and Joseph Hart arrive at Sedro (Skagit County) in 1878.
- Seattle’s first telephone line is installed in 1878.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Spokane County (out of Stevens) on October 30, 1879.
- Rutherford B. Hayes visits Puget Sound cities in October 1880 during the first trip west of the Rockies by a U.S. President.
- Population of Washington Territory is 75,116 in 1880.
1881-1890
- Northern Pacific Railroad reaches Spokane Falls on June 25, 1881.
- Range wars between cattlemen and sheepmen in Douglas County 1881.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Garfield County (out of Columbia County) on November 29, 1881.
- U.S. Army establishes Fort Spokane at the junction of the Spokane and Columbia rivers in 1882.
- Great Dayton (Columbia County) Fire occurs on April 8, 1882.
- Women form first women's club on the West Coast in Olympia on March 10, 1883.
- Women win, lose, regain, and again lose right to vote in Territorial elections between 1883 and 1888.
- Northern Pacific Railroad’s mainline between Washington and Minnesota is completed at Gold Creek, Montana, on September 8, 1883.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Asotin County (out of Garfield) on October 27, 1883.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Kittitas County (out of Klickitat) and Lincoln County (out of Whitman) on November 24, 1883.
- Washington Territorial Legislature creates Skagit County (out of Whatcom), Douglas County (out of Lincoln), and Adams and Franklin counties (out of Whitman) on November 28, 1883.
- Northern Pacific constructs a railroad bridge over Snake River at Ainsworth 1884.
- Chief Joseph and many Nez Perce, who were exiled to various reservations after their exodus to Canada was blocked in 1877, are relocated to the Colville Indian Reservation in 1885.
- Whites, Indians, and others expel Chinese from Seattle, Tacoma, and elsewhere during 1885 and 1886.
- Horse rancher Frank Beezley settles on Beezley Springs (Ephrata) in 1886.
- Mother Joseph builds Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane in 1886.
- John McMillan establishes Roche Harbor (San Juans) Limestone in 1886.
- Dawes Severalty Act 1887.
- Jesuit missionary Fr. Joseph Cataldo, SJ, opens Gonzaga College (now Gonzaga University) in Spokane on September 17, 1887.
- Stampede Pass tunnel opens on May 27, 1888.
- The Great Fire burns Seattle on June 6, 1889.
- The Great Fire burns Ellensburg on July 4, 1889.
- The Great Fire burns Spokane Falls on August 4, 1889.
- Washington becomes a state on November 11, 1889.
- Yakima becomes the site of the State Fair in 1889.
- Cheney Normal School (future Eastern Washington University) formally opens on October 13, 1890.
- Population of Washington state is 357,232 in 1890.
1891-1900
- Jesuit teachers establish forerunner of Seattle University in 1891.
- State Normal School (now Central Washington University) opens in Ellensburg on September 6, 1891.
- U.S. Navy purchases Bremerton site for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1891.
- Washington Agricultural College (predecessor to Washington State University) opens on January 13, 1892.
- Ritzville Warehouse Company, first farmer group in the Pacific Northwest, organizes to sell wheat in 1893.
- Great Northern Railway completes transcontinental line to Seattle on January 6, 1893.
- National economic Panic begins in March 1893, seriously reducing employment and investment in Washington state over the next four years.
- Washington State Legislature passes Barefoot Schoolboy Act in 1895.
- Japanese steamer Miiki Maru arrives in Seattle to establish regular trade on August 31, 1896.
- Adams County bumper wheat crop spurs shift from cattle ranching in 1897.
- Washington’s first hydroelectric plant enters operation at Snoqualmie Falls on July 31, 1899.
- Whatcom Normal School (future Western Washington University) opens in Bellingham in 1899.
- Washington State Legislature creates Ferry County (out of Stevens) on February 21, 1899.
- Washington State Legislature creates Chelan County on March 13, 1899.
- Weyerhaeuser makes one of the largest land purchases in United States history on January 3, 1900.
- Population of Washington state is 518,103 in 1900.
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